


Tea and Toast

by ShayneyL



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Episode: s05e17 The Disease, Ficlet, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-29 16:43:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20085451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShayneyL/pseuds/ShayneyL
Summary: Tom's taking care of Harry, whether Harry likes it or not.





	Tea and Toast

**Author's Note:**

> Writer's Month 2019, Day 2. The prompt is "hurt-comfort."
> 
> Set after "The Disease." If you haven't seen the episode, it ends with Harry suffering a variety of unpleasant symptoms, including "chronic sleep loss and acute gastroenteritis" due to his breakup with his alien girlfriend. (And contrary to popular belief, the disease of the title was not an STD, or any other actual disease. "The Disease" in this episode is love.)

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

The door chime sounded. Harry ignored it. He was off-duty, and he wasn't in the mood for company.

The signal repeated, and a familiar voice yelled through the door. "Harry, I know you're in there. Open up or I'm declaring a medical emergency."

Tom wouldn't really do that, would he? Harry decided he didn't want to bet on that, and got up to open the door. 

Tom was standing there, holding a small metal device in his hands. "I brought you something," Tom said, and held it up. It was, Harry realized, an antique toaster. He'd seen it in Tom's quarters, part of the vintage decor he'd adopted lately.

"Thanks," Harry said, puzzled. "But you know I don't have anywhere to plug it in." 

Tom pushed his way inside, and Harry let him. Tom put the toaster down on Harry's table. "The cord and plug are just decorative. It actually runs off a modern power cell. You think B'Elanna would really let me have AC current in my quarters? It's a fire hazard."

Harry found himself smiling a little, for the first time since Tal left. That was just so...Tom. Verisimilitude was important to him.

Tom peered at him, then put a hand against Harry's forehead. Like Harry's mom used to do, when she thought he might be running a fever.

"I'm not sick," Harry said.

"Just lovesick."

"No medication," Harry said warningly, not for the first time. Tom and the Doctor wanted him to take the cure for Tal's alien hormones, but the captain had agreed he didn't have to. 

"Have you eaten today?" Tom asked.

Harry didn't answer, and Tom read the silence correctly. "I didn't think so. Neelix made pleeka rind casserole tonight, your favorite, and you didn't even show your face in the mess hall."

"Sorry," Harry said. He moved to the couch and sat down, suddenly too tired to stand. It occurred to him that Neelix might have made it just for him. "I hope that didn't hurt his feelings."

"He'll get over it," Tom said. He went to the replicator, and began tapping in an order.

Harry scowled. "I'm not hungry," he said, suspecting that Tom was ordering dinner for him. His gut roiled at the thought.

"Maybe not, but you have to eat," Tom said cheerfully. "If you pass out on the bridge due to low blood sugar, the captain's going to make you get medical treatment."

"I'm not going to pass out on the bridge," Harry said. He would be demanding medical treatment himself long before it got anywhere near that bad. _Voyager_'s safety came first.

Tom turned from the replicator, holding a loaf of bread and a container of peanut butter.

"You're making me a peanut butter sandwich?" Harry said, bemused.

"Better," Tom said. "I'm making you peanut butter toast." He put two slices of bread in the toaster, and pressed the lever.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just replicate it already toasted?"

"Not the same," Tom said. "Replicated toast is not the same as real toast, toasted in a real toaster. Come here, you'll see."

"Tom, I really don't think I'm up to eating right now."

"Yes, you are. Trust me. Eat a little, and it will settle your stomach." 

The toast popped up, and Tom began spreading it with peanut butter. "Come on," he coaxed. "Toast is easy on the digestive system."

Harry sighed, and went to sit at the table. He wasn't up for eating, but he wasn't up for an argument, either.

Tom handed him a slice of toast, peanut butter so thinly spread on it it was almost invisible. "Eat," he said, pushing a cup of hot tea toward Harry.

Not ready to risk the toast yet, Harry sipped the tea. With lemon, the way he liked it. "Thank you."

Tom sat down next to him. He had replicated a glass of milk for himself, and his slice of toast had a thick slather of peanut butter on it. 

Faintly horrified, Harry asked, "Want a little bread with your peanut butter?"

"I know you're jealous," Tom shot back. "But I don't think too much peanut butter would be good for you right now."

Harry was most definitely not jealous. He took a reluctant nibble of his nearly-dry toast. 

Tom looked ridiculously happy, just to see Harry eat a bite of toast. He felt terrible that he was causing Tom distress. Not enough to want to forget his feelings for Tal, but... "Tom, please don't worry about me. I'm all right."

Tom gave him a measuring look. "No, you're not," he said, sighing. "But you will be."

Harry ate some more toast. Tom was right. It did settle his stomach. 


End file.
